During the 18 months the Dutch coach has been in charge at Old Trafford, Axel Tuanzebe, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Sean Goss, Andreas Pereira, Nick Powell and Marcus Rashford have all made at least one senior matchday squad.

Small squads and injuries have contributed to that but the fact remains that young players at United can see a clear path to first-team football, something underlined by Jesse Lingard's recent run in the first team and first England call-up.

"It's obviously massive for the club and young players," Joyce told M.E.N Sport.

"I'm sure all boys around Manchester must be looking and thinking if they do any good at Manchester United they will get a chance. We haven't got a lot of numbers so they do get a chance.

"They get worked, they get opportunities to train with the first team regularly and it's the same old adage: if you do well enough, you'll get a chance and if you do well enough when you're in, you'll keep there.

"I think Jesse's shown that this season."

Lingard on the ball against PSV

If the first team remains the goal for United's academy players, they can also benefit from senior players dropping down to Under-21 level.

Van Gaal has been happy to give his senior stars minutes in the reserve team to keep or improve fitness levels, with Phil Jones, Victor Valdes, Michael Carrick and Robin van Persie among the high profile names to turn out last year.

In a youth league that can vary starkly in standard from game to game, Joyce believes the youngsters can learn from the experience of the first team players.

"To develop young players they've got to have a mix," the coach said.

"They've got to play with men and they've got to play against men. Sometimes in this league we don't play against enough men.

"The manager has played some players when they need games and it's good experience for the boys because they see proper pros, how they are, how they react, how they conduct themselves in the dressing room and on the pitch so I think that is a good education.

"It's obviously more difficult for [the senior players].

"It's a test for them, what their attitudes like. It's alright saying you've got a good attitude but you find out when you drop down to these games.

"If you don't do it properly and focus for 90 minutes you can mug yourself off and that's the difficulty for those boys."